Girl, I Don't Know What You See, You're More Than Just a Mannequin to Me

Soon it was nearing the end of tour.

“What’re we gonna do, with you in Baltimore and me in Portland?” I asked Alex one night, when we lay naked in his bunk on his empty bus. Our fingers were laced together in between us, and Alex had this dreamy look on his face.

He looked down at me with his beautiful chocolate eyes. “I’ll make sure we see each other often, don’t worry,” he told me. He used his other hand to run his fingers through my hair. “I can fly in every other week to visit and see you.”

“That’s very expensive, Mr. Gaskarth,” I giggled, enjoying the feel of him playing with my hair. I closed my eyes.

“I don’t even care,” he told me, leaning down to give me butterfly kisses across my face. “Money is no object when it comes to you, baby.”

I blushed, looking back up at him. His hand left my hair to finger the necklace he gave me.

“I wore it every single day, even when I was with Peyton,” I told him. His muscles got tight at the mention of the name, but he relaxed so quickly that it just barely noticeable.

“And you named your cat after me,” Alex chuckled.

“Yes, and I named my cat after you,” I agreed, putting my face in his neck and breathing in his scent.

“Ew, you smell sweaty,” I said, pulling away and crinkling my nose.

“Well considering what we’ve just been doing…” Alex chuckled.

I smacked him playfully and started grabbing at my clothes. “We should probably take showers,” I said. “We have sound check soon anyway.”

“You’re probably right,” Alex sighed. He grabbed his underwear and pulled it on.

After we climbed out of the bunk, dressed, he pulled me into his arms and gave me a long, loving kiss.

“I love you,” I told him when he pulled away.

He gave me that childish grin of his, “I can never get tired of you saying that. I love you, too.”

He gave me one last kiss then disappeared into the bathroom. I left the bus and made my way towards Friday’s.

“Ooh, sex hair,” Brynn said when I climbed on. “Gettin’ down and dirty with Gaskank, are we?”

I poked my tongue out at him. “I’m gonna take a shower.”

I walked past them and into the tiny bathroom, getting undressed and climbing into the shower. Afterwards I got ready and we left for sound check.

Alex was there to watch us. He greeted me at the door with a kiss but provided no distraction, simply just plastered himself in a chair to sit and watch. He had a silly grin on his face though. I noticed that he had it a lot lately.

“What did you think?” I asked him after sound check, climbing off the stage and walking over. I wrapped my arms around his thin waist.

“You were absolutely wonderful,” he said, giving me a smile and a kiss.

“Ew, guys, get a room!” Abner joked playfully.

“Guys, be nice,” Erix said, because he understood, since he’d been so nasty with Key the first few months they were dating. Emmie left to call Darren.

“So, we should get some lunch before the concert,” Alex suggested as we left the building and made our way towards the busses. He linked his fingers with mine.

“Sound perfect,” I said back. “How about pizza?”

“DID I HEAR PIZZA?!” Jack bounded up, hopping up and down. “Pizza pizza pizza.”

I giggled, “Yes, Jacky, we’re getting pizza,” I told him. “And yes, you can come.” Jack cheered and followed us to the van.

We drove to pizza hut and seated ourselves inside. After the pizza came, I started peeling off everything, even the cheese.

“What are you doing?” Jack asked me, giving me a weird look.

“I like my pizza plain,” I answered simply, taking a bite.

“That’s not pizza,” Alex laughed. “That’s breadsticks and sauce.”

“I don’t like my breadsticks with sauce,” I told him, taking another bite.

Jack shook his head at me, “You’re weird, Cotton Candy.”

“I’m weird, says the person who dips their pizza in fucking mayonnaise,” I poked my tongue out at him. “Whatever.”

“Jack has mayonnaise with practically everything,” Alex told me, taking a bite of his ‘normal’ pepperoni pizza.

“I don’t have mayonnaise with burgers,” Jack said, narrowing his eyes.

“Of course, something that it’s perfectly normal to put mayonnaise on,” I giggled.

“But he does have it with his fries,” Alex informed me. I giggled again.

After we were done eating, we got back at the venue. Apparently Friday had a surprise for me. My sister was there.

“Mauve!” I squealed when I saw her, sitting in a lawn chair with Friday and The Maine. When she heard my voice she jumped up and to me.

“Cayne!” she squealed back, and we enveloped each other in a hug.

After we pulled away, I turned to the guys.

“Alex, Jack, this is my sister, Mauve,” I introduced. “Mauve, this is my boyfriend Alex, and his best friend Jack.”

Mauve fixed her piercing icy eyes that we had both gotten from our dad on Alex. “So you’re Alex,” she said.

They guys looked sheepish. Guys around Mauve usually did. She was extremely beautiful, with long blonde hair and pale skin. She was a model.

“Uh, yeah,” Alex stuttered.

She held a hand out, a smile on her face, “It’s nice to finally meet you,” she said. He shook her hand. Afterwards, she turned to me. “Let’s catch up before your concert, yeah?” And she dragged me away.

A couple weeks later, it was the last day of tour. Alex and I were wrapped up in each other’s arms on the couch of the Friday bus. Mauve sat across from us, tapping things into her phone with a cocked eyebrow. Next to her was Jack, who had gained a crush on her.

I sighed for like the fifth time in the last hour.

“I know, I know,” Alex said, dragging his fingers through my hair. “I’m going to miss you, too.”

I sighed again.

“Stop being such a downer, C,” Mauve told me, kicking my foot lightly with hers.

“I’m sorry, M,” I replied. “It’s just such a down day.”

“Not if it has to be,” she gave me a smirk, setting her phone down.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Just go put on some scrap clothes, white stuff. I’ll be back in ten minutes.” She left the bus without another word. The guys and I looked at each other, shrugged, and did what she said. We met back up outside, and when we did, Mauve was already back.

She climbed out of the van and went to the back. She began to pull out buckets of paint and balloons.

“Start filling these up, I’m going to change,” she instructed us, handing us a bunch of balloons. “And, tell everybody else what we’re doing.” She clapped her hands and walked past us.

“And we’re supposed to go on stage like this?” I asked.

She turned around and walked backwards. “It’s the ‘Summer of my Painted On Heart tour, isn’t it?” She shrugged and climbed onto the Friday bus.

I grinned – I love my sister.

We dutifully went to work, and it did take some time. We had to use things to scoop up the paint and pour them into balloons. But Mauve did spread the word, and slowly people trickled up to help, wearing all white. She returned with the last of Dreaming of Lilian, and had almost two hundred balloons filled up by then.

When we were completely done, we had at least seven hundred balloons. It took an hour and a half.

But it was worth it. I took the first throw, and hit Jared in the face. Bright blue paint splattered onto him. He gasped and picked up a balloon, hitting me with yellow paint. I screamed.

And then it was war. Everybody was throwing paint at each other, screaming and jumping around widely. Jack had about ten in his arms at a time, twisting his long arms like a windmill and throwing without a particular target. “Take that, and that, and that,” he kept saying.

After all the balloons were gone, we all collapsed together in the middle of the parking lot, covered in a bunch of colors of paint and exhausted.

“God, you’re amazing,” I said to Mauve, still in fits of giggles.

She fluttered her lashes, “I know.”

I felt an arm snake around my waist and turned to see a grinning Alex. He pulled me into his arms and gave me a long kiss.

“I love you,” he said, pulling away. “And I’m going to miss you so much.”